The Quebec-based corner store mammoth Alimentation Couche-Tard (Power Night Owl) will phase out the name Mac’s and replace it in Canada with the  U.S. brand name Circle K. This will begin in 2017 according to a news release from the Laval headquarters of the firm Tuesday. Circle K is already Couche-Tard’s most widely used store banner, primarily in the United States plus 12 other countries. The announcement was made ahead of Couche-Tard’s annual meeting for shareholders.

In what appears to be a terrorist related or ransom plot of some kind, eleven armed men have stormed ashore near midnight at the quiet southern Philippines resort known as Holiday Ocean View on Samal Island. They abducted two Canadian men as well as the Norwegian manager of the resort and a Filipino woman. They attempted to take others, but their prey escaped by leaping off their moored yachts into the water and swimming away. The Canadian, identified in the linked CBC story, are retired resource industry executives.

AL-QAEDA, COMMUNIST GUERRILLAS?

The CBC says no group has claimed responsibility but Muslim and communist rebels, al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants and criminal syndicates have been active for years in the restive southern region due to weak law enforcement in rural areas despite years of on-and-off government crackdowns. CBC  Below is video of the actual kidnapping from surveillance video at the resort.

A wonder to behold as David Price pitched a superb game and Justin Smoak doubled to drive home Bautista. Jays lead the Yanks in the AL Esst by 3.5 games.

Volkswagen has apologized for what appears to be a rank attempt to lie to both the government and car buyers over the emission levels of VW cars with diesel engines. The apology applies both in Canada and the U.S. Das Fibbing involved software installed by VW to make it seem like the vehicles emitted less pollution than they really did during emissions testing. Really. It is an extraordinary bit of trickery that has VW in a lot of hot water with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Because of the stink, so to speak, VW has cancelled sale of diesel model cars in the U.S. and Canada. That includes the Jetta, Golf and Beetle. There is no word on what is to be done for owners of the half a million or so VWs on U.S. roads or in Canada.

Cadillac Fairview has decided to put its initials in front of the well-known names of its shopping malls, it seems. Toronto Eaton Centre is to become  CF Toronto Eaton, Sherway Gardens, the CF Sherway Gardens. It’s just thrilling.

Both the consistency of the Nanos rolling poll, and the capacity of parties to sneak into the lead from day-to-day, suggests there is no guessing the outcome. Election day is less than a month away. Such closeness means the transfer of only a few votes from one party to another has the potential to elect a government with very narrow winning margins.  CTV

The pontiff lands in New York on Thursday as the above CBS News report outlines. Also, there is interesting commentary and analysis at this page. CNN

Nice to have another good reason to give my friend @jon_burnside crap at his community environment day 🙂 pic.twitter.com/lfvKqAQlyv

— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) September 19, 2015

The City of Toronto has created a web portal that brings together information on development in the Eglinton and Yonge area. This collection of information reaches all the way to Bayview Ave. where it includes the Brown Group development for Bayview and Hillsdale Ave. Development Review